The present invention, Hosta ‘Clifford's Stingray’, relates to a new and distinct cultivar of Hosta hybrida and hereinafter referred to as ‘Clifford's Stingray’.
The inventors discovered the new cultivar, ‘Clifford's Stingray’, in summer of 2002 a in a nursery in Paw Paw, Mich. ‘Clifford's Stingray’ was discovered as a naturally occurring whole plant mutation among containers of Hosta ‘Fire and Ice’ (not patented). ‘Clifford's Stingray’ is presumed to be a sport of ‘Fire and Ice’ as the containers had been planted with plugs produced by tissue culture of ‘Fire and Ice’.
Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar was first accomplished under the direction of the inventors utilizing in vitro propagation in a tissue culture lab in Florida in 2002. Asexual reproduction of the new cultivar by division and tissue culture has shown that the unique features of ‘Clifford's Stingray’ are stable and reproduced true to type in successive generations.